The World Of The Dead
by writinginthestars
Summary: When corpses start rising from their graves and attacking people, and the newly dead also start turning into zombies, Claire Danvers finds herself separated from her friends and fighting for survival with a group of strangers. With dramas left right and centre, secrets and old friends coming back, will the town of Morganville be able to survive this new world?
1. Surviving

**Author's note -**

Hello! Thank you for coming to check out this story. It is kind of a crossover between Morganville Vampires and The Walking Dead. I say kind of because as far as I know, I'm not going to add characters from TWD into this (I may change my mind about this later, we'll see) but I'm using the show's aspect of zombies/walkers.

For the Morganville Vampires part of this story (the main characters and the town, etc.), I wouldn't say it's exactly based around any timeframe or certain book in the series. I mean, it has the same characters and vampires, but I'm creating my own drama mostly. Also, you may meet characters that died in one of the books but that isn't dead in this, or you might see me change a few things plotwise to be able to have a character still alive. We'll just have to see how this goes as I'm writing it as I go along, I don't have this planned out (although I have an idea of where I want the story to go).

Of course, I don't own Morganville Vampires or TWD, but I do however own the original characters in the story. For example, Mr Endcott, Rebekah and Riley whom you will meet in this chapter!

Anyway, I'll be quiet now and let you start reading if you still want to. Please don't forget to leave reviews!

* * *

**Chapter one**

_Surviving_

Claire Danvers sat in one of her classes, staring out of the window aimlessly and wondering what on Earth was taking this class so long to finish. She usually paid attention in class and listened attentively, but today she just had too much on her mind. The teacher had noticed her ignoring him but hadn't said anything yet, probably because Mr Endcott knew that chances were, she had already read ahead about this particular subject. Which she had.

Her thoughts drifted to one of the main problems she was trying to get through: Shane. Unfortunately, and she hated to admit this, Shane had become a problem to her. For the past three or four weeks, he had been acting secretive about things and numerous times he had left the house in the middle of the night despite the dangers of Morganville at night. She could feel herself slowly losing him to whatever he was hiding. Just this morning she had confronted him about it when he tried to sneak back into the house at 4am, only to find Claire sat on the steps waiting for him.

It was fair to say that the conversation hadn't gone well. He had said something along the lines of, "butt the hell out of my business and leave me alone. It has nothing to do with you and I'm not in the mood for you to start judging me over every little thing that I do, just fuck off Claire." Shane had never once swore at her, nor had he talked to her with such disrespect before, so that was a clear sign that something was going on with him and she was determined to find out what. She was angry that he would talk to her like that and wasn't going to forgive him anytime soon, but this was still Shane and she still wanted to help him in any she could.

And now she was angry at herself for becoming the type of girl to let her boyfriend distract her from her schoolwork. Sighing, she looked away from the window and forced herself to listen to Mr Endcott, but it was just a few minutes later that she got distracted again. In fact everybody got distracted, including the teacher.

A long, high pitched scream came from outside the classroom, followed by a lot more screaming and a lot of shouting. Along with her classmates, Claire jumped to her feet and slung her backpack over her shoulders just as a blonde girl - one whom Claire recognised as being friends with Monica Morrell - burst into the classroom, crying heavily. Claire noticed with a start that the girl was covered in blood.

"Rebekah?" Mr Endcott was the first to speak. "Rebekah, what's wrong? What's going on out there?"

"There's dead... Dead people... Everywhere... Oh god, they're killing everyone..." She sounded hysterical, her body shaking with fear and other emotions.

The classroom door was pushed open again after Rebekah had left it ajar and a man came in, walking slowly and capturing the attention of everybody in the room. His clothes were rags, dirty and covered in dark red blood, and his skin was a pallid grey colour, his eyes glazed over white. Just like Rebekah had said, the man looked dead. He moaned low in his throat before grabbing hold of Rebekah, bringing a scream from her mouth.

And then he... Bit into her neck. It wasn't a vampire bite like Claire had seen before, with fangs and a simple bite. No, this guy had normal teeth just like a human and instead of a simple bite, he literally ripped the flesh from her neck, tearing it open before going in for another bite. Eventually, Rebekah's screams cut off and her body became limp. As her body fell to the floor, the man did too; he continued to literally eat her body.

Disgusted, Claire gipped and turned around to throw up all over her seat. Wiping her mouth afterwards, she looked up in time to see a large group of people that looked just like the man swarm into the room. One had only half an arm, one had a knife stuck into its chest and one had an arm bent at an unnatural angle. But they kept on coming, seemingly oblivious to their injuries. Some of the group fell to the floor around Rebekah and joined the man in pulling out her guts (which made Claire want to retch again), whilst the others started grabbing Claire's classmates. They fought back and tried to get away, but there was simply nowhere to go. Claire watched one grab hold of Mr Endcott before she forced herself to stop being frozen in her spot and to move. She ran to the front of the classroom where there were only two of the monsters, both of whom were too busy over Mr Endcott's body to notice her.

Claire was terrified. She wanted to scream, to cry, to do anything but fight. But she knew that if she wanted to live she had no choice but to leave her classmates and try to escape from these monsters. She had only lived in Morganville for a year but she had already learnt the rules of survival and she was no stranger to fighting. Watching the monsters at work, she knew that she wouldn't stand a chance fighting them though so her only option was to run.

The only thing was, there was a large group of them near the door that had already grabbed a few students who had tried to escape.

"Claire! Over here!" She heard a shout. Looking in the direction of the shout, she saw that one of her classmates had been lucky enough not to be grabbed and had pushed the window open. He was now sat half-in half-out of the room, clearly ready to jump. Claire didn't know him well, just that his name was Riley Bright and he was a rival for her for the top of the class. He was Hispanic, with light brown skin, dark shaggy hair and hazel eyes, and had a tall, slim physique. "Come on!"

She ran over to him, shouting over all of the other shouting and the screams that seemed to be coming from all over the building. "What are you doing?!"

"What does it look like? I'm escaping! I do want to live, you know. And if you do too, follow me," he spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, clenching his jaw in frustration. He had blood on his white shirt, but Claire was pretty certain that it wasn't his own. And then, Riley jumped out of the window.

Claire quickly looked out and down, thankful to see that he hadn't just jumped a suicidal jump. Lucky for them, they were only on the second floor so it wasn't that far of a jump, but still... If she landed wrong, she could easily damage her feet. Should she actually jump out of a freaking window?

That was question was answered for her when she turned her head around to see a dead woman walking towards her, arms outstretched and ready to grab Claire as soon as she got close enough. Claire quickly climbed over the sill, took a deep breath and jumped from the window just as the woman got close enough to scratch her nails down Claire's backpack. She hit the ground roughly, falling to her bum, but breathed out in relief when she realized she hadn't seriously injured herself.

"Come on," Riley said as he helped her to her feet. "There's bound to be some outside of the building too, they had to have come from somewhere, right? We need to get away from here, it's too late for everyone else."

Breathing heavily from exertion as they ran across campus together, Claire quickly asked, "but where are we going to go?"

"I know somewhere, it's okay. Just trust me."

Riley was relatively a stranger to her and Claire had learnt the hard way not to trust strangers plenty of times. But what other option did she have? She didn't know how to kill these dead people, monsters, whatever they were. She doubted she'd be able to get back to the Glass House on her own - and that was only if the other three hadn't been attacked and would still be alive to greet her - and she couldn't think of anywhere else she could go that guaranteed safety.

So, at the end of what felt like the scariest day of her life, Claire found herself with no choice but to trust Riley Bright; she hoped this wouldn't be a decision she would come to regret.

* * *

Eve sat on the third to bottom step on the staircase and watched through her tears as Michael and Shane boarded up the front door. They had already boarded up the back door and all of the windows on the first floor of the house, working together quickly and efficiently.

Eve thought back to the events that had led up to this moment. Michael had been asleep in bed and avoiding the daylight, whilst Shane was on his video games and Eve was sat next to him reading one of her magazines. Then they had heard all the shouting. Her and Shane had gone out onto the street to find their neighbours rushing around and shouting things about monsters and dead people and corpses rising from their grave in the graveyard.

One of their neighbours had been running down the road and they stopped him to ask what was going on. Breathlessly, he had explained in a rush. "A bunch of corpses rose from the graveyard and are going around attacking people. Eating them! They're monsters! They attacked the university first, apparently it's an absolute nightmare over there. Some are wandering the streets, breaking down doors to get into houses and just grabbing people off the streets! Get into your houses, board everything up just in case!" He had ran away after that, presumably to go back to his own house and his family.

And they followed his instructions. They'd heard another person shout that the dead people couldn't break down doors, just that people were opening them for them after seeing dead loved ones, but they weren't up for taking any risks so they boarded everything up.

As Michael and Shane finished with the door, they both slouched to the floor, resting their backs against the door. Everything was silent in the house for at least a minute until Eve couldn't take it anymore. "I can't believe this!" She exclaimed. "How is this even possible? People rising from their graves? I mean, seriously... _Zombies?!_"

Michael sighed tiredly. "I guess if vampires exist, anything is possible. It's crazy, I know."

"Everybody was saying that the university was attacked first, that it was really bad," she said, her voice shaking as tears fell down her cheeks. "Do you think... Claire... Is she okay? Why are we just sat in here, hiding, when she might need our help? Are you not even thinking about Claire at all? Shane?"

"Of course I'm thinking about Claire!" Shane snapped at her. "She's my girlfriend, how could I not? But I'm not stupid, Eve. If this is real and the university really was attacked, there's only two options for Claire. Either she managed to get away and she's hiding out somewhere or making her way back here - which is highly possible considering she's one of the strongest people I know - or... Or she's dead," his voice nearly broke on that last word.

"So we're not going to try and look for her?"

"We can't," Michael answered. "We have to think about our own safety as well. Claire wouldn't want us to go on some suicide mission, she'd want us to stay safe. I know this is hard," his voice turned gentle, "but this is Morganville. If anybody is going to survive a war against a bunch of zombies, it's this town. We're all survivors here, fighters. And of course Shane and I are upset about Claire, but we also know when the right time to just hide is. And that's now. We'll get through this, Eve. Together."

"Right. Just without Claire," she scoffed. "I can't even remember the last words I said to her... What if we never see her again?"

"Will you just shut up, Eve?!" Shane jumped to his feet. "I don't want to listen to this anymore, we get it! Zombies are attacking the town. Claire's probably dead. Half of the town are probably dead. It's the end of the freaking world as we know it. Just shut up for once in your life!" He stormed past her and stomped up the stairs, going into his bedroom and slamming the door behind him loudly.

"Jerk," Eve spat out through her tears.

Michael stood up and moved to sit next to her, wrapping her in his arms and kissing the top of her head. "Everything's going to be okay."

"How can you say that? Clearly, everything is _not_ going to be okay."

Michael chuckled darkly and humourlessly. "I know. But if we don't have hope that this isn't forever, then what chance do we have at surviving?"


	2. Family

**Chapter two**

_Family_

It took them about an hour to get to where Riley was leading her. They ran into more of the dead but somehow managed to remain unnoticed by hiding behind the wall and staying as quiet as they could. Newly dead bodies were strewn over the ground in varying degrees of injuries- some with just bites, some with their intestines and other body parts literally pulled out of them. A lot of the bodies were being eaten by the walking dead and no matter how much of it she saw, Claire still felt like she needed to be sick again but she managed to hold it down.

They passed the graveyard on the way there and couldn't stop themselves from stopping and peering through the fence in disbelief. Dirt was pushed up and out of the graves and as they looked in confused and horrified silence a hand reached up out of one of the graves. A rotting, almost skeletal hand that was quickly followed by an arm and then a body as the corpse crawled its way out of its own grave. Riley and Claire had quickly ran away, not wanting to still be there when the corpse left the graveyard.

Riley led Claire to a small cottage that had ivy running up the side of the brickwork and bright poppies planted around the garden. Surprisingly to Claire however, he didn't take her inside of the house. Instead, they walked around the side of the house and into the back garden. The back garden was as well-kept as the front, with flowers and a freshly-mown lawn but there was one thing stopping it from looking perfect: a long line of blood, as if somebody had been dragged, that stopped a little more than half way across the garden.

"Jesus," Riley mumbled under his breath. "I hope everybody's okay."

He walked over to where the blood stopped and Claire followed, looking down to see what looked like a square metal door in the ground. There was a bloody handprint on the handle, but that didn't bother Riley and he bent down, taking hold of the handle and pulling up to open the door. Claire looked down the hole but it was too dark for her to see anything but a rusted metal ladder attached to the wall and leading downwards. "What's down there?" She asked cautiously.

"An underground bomb shelter," Riley replied, a proud tone in his voice. "My Grandma and Grandad live in the cottage there and my Grandad built this shelter all on his own. He's a war veteran, you see, and he learnt the hard way that you should always be prepared for the unknown and always have an escape plan. Hence, the bomb shelter. Go on, you go down first." Seeing her hesitate, he sighed. "Claire, you have two choices: trust me and go down there, or stay up here and be killed. It's your choice."

After just another short second of hesitation, she nodded, knowing that he had a point. She swung her legs into the hole until she felt a mental rung and began to descend the ladders. When she was halfway down, Riley climbed in too and shut the trapdoor above him, allowing total darkness to envelope them. The whole place smelt rusty and damp, just like you would expect from a place underground.

After they climbed down the ladders, they were in what seemed like a short corridor and through the darkness they could just make out the shape of a metal door. They both walked over and Riley tried to open the door but it didn't budge. "I knew it'd be locked," he said quietly. He banged on the door three times with his fist before calling out, "open up! It's me, Riley."

They heard the sound of locks being undone on the other side of the door before it swung open to reveal a man stood there. He was wearing a white shirt that was quite messy with blood and had a head full of grey hair. His face was lined with wrinkles and lines of worry, but he smiled when he saw Riley. "Grandad!" Riley said in a breath of relief, stepping forward to embrace the man in a hug. Claire hadn't realised how worried he had been about his family but it was clearly obvious now that he had indeed been worrying a lot.

She quietly stepped into the shelter and when Riley let go of his Grandad, the older man shut the door and locked it again; there were six different locks, making it more secure than they could have hoped for.

"Grandad, this is Claire," Riley introduced them. "Claire, this is my Grandad, John."

"It's nice to meet you," Claire said politely, forcing a smile onto her face. "Although I suppose I wish it had been under better circumstances."

John nodded in understanding then turned away when they heard a moan of pain. He rushed over to a camp bed in the corner of the room where an elderly woman lay, her skin paled and blood decorating her light blue summer dress. Riley rushed over to her and Claire guessed that this was his Grandma.

There were two other people in the room, a woman and a girl who looked about sixteen-ish, a year or so younger than Claire. They were both blonde and looked quite similar - maybe mother and daughter? - and looked vaguely familiar to Claire. In fact, she was almost certain that she had seen them before but she couldn't for the life of her figure out where. They were sat on a second camp bed that was pressed up against the wall and were huddled together, holding each other for comfort.

Stood in the centre of the room on her own, Claire looked around. The shelter was larger that she had been expecting, with five camp beds and a large box of candles that had already been opened so they could light the candles and stop them from being in complete darkness which probably would have terrified them all. Just thinking about being contained in a space with strangers in darkness gave Claire shivers down her spine. One corner of the shelter was absolutely full of various different boxes. Claire saw: plenty of boxes of matches, canned and tinned food, bottles of water and three first aid kits. Definitely enough supplies to last them a while.

She slowly walked over to stand beside Riley who was looking down at his grandmother in silent horror, seemingly unable to speak. She didn't know him well at all but she felt pity for him and reached her hand out to take hold of his in a way of support for him. "What's wrong with her?" She asked John quietly and calmly.

"When we heard all the shouting, the four of us left the cottage to see what was going on. There was a zombie in the garden and it attacked Ethel, took a chunk out of her shoulder," John explained in a pained voice. "I've tried to stop the bleeding but she's just in so much agony..."

Riley's hand trembled in Claire's hand, damp with sweat. "Is she going to die?" He managed to ask through clenched teeth.

John paused for a moment before shaking his head. "I don't know, Riley. I just don't know."

* * *

Ethel died a few hours later. They couldn't leave the shelter so the only option they had was to cover her body with a sheet and whilst the other four cried over their lost relative, Claire tried to make them something nice to eat but it ended up just being tinned spaghetti that she cooked over a little camping stove. They weren't in the mood to eat but Claire made sure that they all did, even the mother and daughter who didn't speak to her once and who she didn't even know the names of.

They settled down on the campbeds later - Riley, John and Claire each had their own whilst the mother and daughter shared - and all quickly fell asleep. Claire didn't think she'd be able to sleep after the terrible things she had seen today but found that she was just too tired to stay awake.

When she awoke, it was dark with only a few of the candles still lit. She could see the shape of John still asleep in his camp bed and guessed that the others were still asleep too. Sitting up, she looked at Riley's bed next to hers and saw that he was wide awake, sat on his bed and wiping tears from his cheeks. She moved over to sit next to him, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"I'm sorry about your Grandma," she whispered. "I lost mine when I was eight. I cried for about a week. I'd tell you that everything will be okay but that would be a lie. Truth is, it'll never be okay and you'll never get over it... You'll just learn to push it to the back of your mind to focus on other things. And I'm pretty sure that right now you need to focus on staying alive. I didn't know Ethel, but I'm sure that's what she'd want you to focus on."

Riley smiled genuinely through his tears. "You're right, of course you are. I can't believe we have two classes together and we sit near each other but have never talked or become friends. Why is that?"

"I don't know," she replied with a little smile. "Riley, I was wondering... Back at school, why didn't you just leave? Why wait and risk your life to get me to follow you?"

He hesitated a moment before answering in a gentle whisper. "You were the only one I saw that was still alive. I thought about saving you but then decided against it. It was selfish of me, I know that, but I just wanted to get away from there... But then I actually realized who you were."

"What does that have anything to do with it?" Claire asked with a frown.

"I know that you're dating Shane Collins, I've seen you around town with him. Shane's my cousin; my mum and his mum were sisters. My parents died in a car accident when we were both about eleven and I moved in with my grandparents. John and Ethel are my dad's parents so I didn't really see Shane that much again. We used to be friends, but we grew apart. But he's still family, you know? So I didn't want to just leave you there, knowing that you're my cousin's girlfriend."

"Huh. Well, thank you." Claire wondered why Shane had never mentioned having a cousin in Morganville, but wasn't too surprised when she thought about it. Shane had said that his family was from Morganville, why couldn't that have meant extended family too? Plus, Shane rarely ever talked about his family. All Claire knew were the basics: that his father Frank wasn't a very nice man and had abused Shane and his mother Anne because he was a heavy alcoholic. And then about seven years ago Anne and Shane's little sister Alyssa disappeared; they were never found and when somebody goes missing in Morganville, they're instantly presumed dead. For years Shane was beat up by his father and dragged into his sketchy businesses, as well as being taught and trained by Frank to kill vampires, before he was finally old enough to move out. He hadn't seen Frank for about two years now. Deciding to change the subject so they didn't have to talk about Shane's family life anymore, she gestured towards the mother and daughter who were both fast asleep. "Who are they?"

"Oh, that's-" Riley started but was cut off when they heard a low moan and saw somebody start sitting up in the corner of the shelter. The corner where Ethel's body was. "What the...?"

As the person stood up, the yellow cotton sheet that covered her body fell to the ground and both Riley and Claire gasped when they saw the face of the person... Or rather, zombie. Her wrinkles were carved deep into her pallid grey skin, her cheeks sunken in and her eyes glazed over white. She began to walk towards them slowly, her face mangled into an angry expression and her arms lifted up to stretch out in front of her, reaching for them.

There was no denying it: Ethel had turned into a zombie.

* * *

**Author's note -**

Thank you for the reviews and the follows, it means so much to me. I hope you liked chapter two; please leave reviews again!

As you read, I changed a little bit about Shane's family history but it was for a reason, I promise. Thank you for reading!


	3. Dead

**Author's note - **

Sorry I haven't updated for so long, I've just been so busy. Hope you like this chapter, please leave reviews? :)

* * *

**Chapter three  
**_Dead_

Claire couldn't believe her eyes. For a moment she froze but she quickly went into action mode - something that was now instinctual thanks to Morganville - when Riley stood up and took a step towards Ethel. Or what used to be Ethel, anyway. "Wait," she grabbed hold of his arm to stop him. "Riley, that isn't your grandmother anymore. You saw what they're like, at school and outside. She will _kill_ us if we go near her. Wake the others up, we have to get out of here."

Riley nodded once, coming to his senses from her words but still shaking with emotion. He quickly rushed over to wake up the girls and John, leaving Claire to face Ethel on her own. The zombie was staring at her, lips pulled back over her teeth in an ugly grimace. And then she pounced, rushing at Claire who moved backwards, ending up backed into a corner.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Riley ushering the mother and daughter and John out of the shelter, telling them to go up the ladders. She turned her attention away from them and back at Ethel. The zombie was now close enough that she tried to bite Claire but just in time, Riley grabbed Claire's arm and pulled her away sideways. There was a kitchen knife lying on the floor that John had brought down to protect his family and Riley picked it up, thrusting it into Ethel's chest as soon as she started advancing on them.

But the knife didn't even slow her down. In fact, she acted as if there wasn't a thin stream of blood dripping from the wound and carried on towards them. Her fingers clasped down on Claire's left arm but before she could bite, Claire elbowed her in the face which gave her the chance to slip free from Ethel's presence.

"Quick!" Riley shouted in a gasp, grabbing Claire and leading her out of the bomb shelter, leaving the door wide open behind them. He pushed her towards the ladders and she grabbed hold of the metal rungs and started to climb them, Riley just below her. "Do you think she can climb up here too?"

"I don't know," Claire wheezed, breathless after the attack. "But let's not give her the chance to show us."

She heard him muffle an agreement. The trapdoor leading outside was already open and Claire pulled herself up into the garden, Riley following her lead. It was dark outside but the sun was starting to rise, indicating it was early morning. She clambered to her feet just as Riley closed the trapdoor and slid a bolted lock shut to make sure Ethel couldn't get out. Knowing that they were finally safe from her, Claire sighed in relief a moment before she heard the sobbing.

Expecting it to be one of the girls, she turned around but saw that it was John crying. "John," the blonde woman - the mother - said. "John I'm sorry for your loss, but you need to pull it together. We need to find someplace safe. What about your cottage?"

"It's not big enough for all of us," Riley answered her, shaking his head. "Besides, it's not safe. Especially if zombies already attacked you around here and bit Ethel, they might still be hanging around in the house."

"My Ethel," John cried. "Oh, my sweetheart. Are we just going to leave her down there? Oh, how is that right?"

Claire saw Riley gulp, clearly trying to hold down his own emotions so as to look strong and supporting for John. He wrapped an arm around the older man's shoulders and said, "Grandad, that wasn't Grandma anymore. She's... She's dead. Gone. She wouldn't want you to break down; we all need you to stay strong. Please, Grandad."

It took a long few minutes but finally, John composed himself and slowly nodded, wiping away his tears on the sleeve of his shirt. "The shelter was probably one of the safest places in the town," he said quietly. "We can't go back down there now, can we? Oh god, we don't stand a chance living on the streets! This is Morganville- everybody focuses on protecting themselves, nobody else. Nobody will take us in if they think it might be dangerous to them. We have nowhere to go."

"Yes we do," Claire answered as a solution came to mind. "We do have somewhere to go."

"Where?" Riley asked.

"My home. The Glass House. Shane, Michael and Eve will be alive still, I know they will. If anybody is going to survive a zombie apocalypse it's those three. The house is big and it's secure. They'll let us in, keep us safe."

"Are you sure they'd let us in?" John asked, a frown marring his face. "They're Morganville natives which means they'll know not to trust strangers."

"Once they know it's me, they'll let us in. They'll trust me that you're decent people that we can trust," Claire replied, knowing that was the truth. "You all know where the Glass House is, yeah?"

"Yeah. Suppose we better set off then before any zombies find us," John said with a grimace.

They set off to the house, Claire and Riley walking slightly behind the others. They took back roads, taking the long way round to the house, and were luckily not running into any zombies that wanted to attack them. They saw a few that were having a 'meal' - that was the only way Claire could describe it without saying they were eating a screaming person - and managed to pass by unnoticed. The sight of the zombies eating people made Claire think about her friends. She had no doubts that they could fight and protect themselves and each other, but what if they were so outnumbered that they were now either dead or zombies themselves? Was that what she would find when they got to the house instead of finding them waiting for her? The thought made her want to break down crying but she managed to hold herself together. She was still furious with Shane about how he treated her and spoke to her yesterday morning but of course she still longed to see him, to know that he was okay. She didn't want to think about this anymore.

She looked ahead of her and saw the mother and daughter leaning into each other as they walked, whispering amongst themselves in what looked like a heated discussion. "What's their problem?" She asked Riley.

"Ah, that's where this may get a little complicated..." He said awkwardly, running a hand through his hair, a gesture that showed he was uncomfortable. "They're probably nervous about going to your house, worried about what will go down there."

"Why? Because they know Mike's a vampire? He's not like the others, I promise."

"No not that," Riley shook his head and then sighed. "Those two are... That's Anne and Alyssa Collins."

Claire stopped walking and looked up at Riley in complete shock. "Shane's mom and sister? But they disappeared. Seven years ago. Everybody, including Shane, thinks they're dead."

"I know. Come on, don't stop," he said, motioning for her to continue walking. As soon as she did, he began to explain. "Anne got sick of Frank beating her up because he was drunk all the time. Frank was abusing Shane too and Anne didn't want him to start on Alyssa as well, so they left town. Amelie gave them permission to leave but obviously didn't tell anybody that."

"Why didn't Anne take Shane as well? Why leave him behind when she knew how horrible Frank was?" Claire asked in horror. Knowing that there had been a chance for Shane to get out of that life and it hadn't happened saddened her.

"I don't know," he shrugged. "They came back to town about two weeks ago. Anne's my aunt on my mum's side of the family so she isn't related to my Grandad. But Anne's dad had been friends with Grandad, so he and Grandma said that her and Alyssa could stay with them. They've been lying low for a while, Anne wasn't ready to see Shane again yet. I bet her and Alyssa are just worried now about how Shane's going to react to seeing them again, whether he'll freak or not. I told them yesterday that you live with Shane by the way, but they think you're just a friend, not his girlfriend. Just so you know."

Claire was silent. She could fully imagine Shane freaking out and he would have every right to but if she knew him as well as she thought she did, she didn't think he would 'freak out'. Shane had a vulnerable side that he liked to keep hidden - a side that Claire very rarely saw, in fact, she knew that she'd probably only seen a small part of his vulnerable side - and he was especially vulnerable when it came to matters about his family. Seeing Anne and Alyssa again... Well, Claire was scared it was going to break him. But she knew that if it did, he would do everything in his power not to let anybody see that, not even Claire.

* * *

Shane sat on the sofa, staring into space and not knowing what to do with himself. Eve was in the kitchen with Michael, letting him drink some of her blood - a fact that he found disgusting but knew was necessary to keep Michael from going psycho on them.

There was a framed photo of the three of them with Claire on the cabinet next to him and he picked it up, looking at the four smiling faces. His eyes lingered on Claire's face. He would probably never see her face again, he thought to himself. She was probably dead, knowing that his last words to her were him telling her to fuck off. He shouldn't have talked to her like that and he regretted it the moment she stormed out of the house and he realised what he had said. He was just angry at the time- Claire was trying to get involved in his business and that was dangerous for her. He didn't want her involved; he was doing it all to protect her! She couldn't find out what he had been up to, that was the only reason he had gotten so angry with her.

He sighed, wondering if he, Eve and Michael would ever look as happy as they did in photo again. He doubted it, especially if they found out that Claire really was dead. Shane knew that Claire was strong, that she knew how to fight and protect herself, but she also had a tendency to be too nice. It wouldn't surprise him if she'd tried to help somebody instead of escaping on her own and ended up getting killed in the process. He didn't want to think that she was dead, of course he didn't, but he wasn't stupid. He knew what her chances had been and he knew it wasn't very likely she'd managed to escape from a university packed with bloodthirsty zombies.

A loud banging broke him out of his thoughts and he jumped, his ears focusing on listening. The banging was coming from the front door, as if somebody was knocking on it as hard as they could. Shane didn't move from his seat on the sofa. All the doors and windows were boarded up from the inside so there was no chance of anybody getting in. If it was zombies at the door, they'd have to go and find somebody else to eat. And if it was people they'd have to find their own damn safe house, he didn't trust strangers so there was no way he was letting anybody in here.

Eve and Michael came in from the kitchen. "Is that somebody at the door?" Mike asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," Shane shrugged. "Just ignore it, it's not worth the risk." The banging stopped. "See, they've given up now."

But they hadn't. A moment later, the banging started again but this time it was on the living room window, incessantly pounding away to get their attention. "Open up!" They heard a voice shout. "Come on guys, there's zombies across the street and they've noticed us! Open up!" The voice sounded familiar but still the three of them didn't move. Until the person identified themselves, confirming Shane's suspicions of who it was. "It's me, Claire! It's Claire guys, come on!"

Shane, Eve and Michael all rushed towards the window at the same time. Shane's heart was pounding in his chest and he felt slightly dizzy with euphoria to hear her voice again. She was alive! Somehow, she'd beat the odds and she was alive.


End file.
